Question Thread: Apply throttle directly to forehead

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Cycle Asylum > Question Thread: Apply throttle directly to forehead

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Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

Hughmoris posted:

I know a lot of individuals have the thought of if you drop a helmet from a few feet up and it hits a hard surface such as concrete or asphalt, then the helmet is no longer any good. Has there ever been any sort of research or study on the matter that someone can refer me to, or does everyone just parrot what they hear from others?

drop it on the ground? it's fine. arai says so.

http://vodpod.com/watch/1160709-jay-leno-the-arai-man

about 8 minutes in

# ¿ May 24, 2009 20:45

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 03:16

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

maybe it's like the dumbass flasher relay on my guzzi which takes 12v in and puts 6v out?

# ¿ May 26, 2009 11:21

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

i always thought the cloth covered lines were tougher than the bare rubber ones. i may be wrong though.

# ¿ May 26, 2009 23:51

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

my guzzi had major wheel creep when i first got it running on the center stand. this is in neutral, and with a dry clutch. so i wouldn't have guessed it was possible. but i guess the gears in the tranny are subject to the same oil principle too.

# ¿ May 28, 2009 12:02

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

Nerobro posted:

Bikes should always need choke to start. If your bike doens't, it's to rich. I'd kinda bet that your pilots are to rich, not choked.

she has a ride that was all customized too, different exhaust and intakes maybe. who knows what fiddling was done on the carbs to accommodate that.

sectoidman posted:

Is it possible to change the gearing ratio of individual gears on a ninja 250? If it is possible, would I have to have the parts custom made? I want a taller 6th gear to lower the RPMs on the highway, but I don't really want to change the ratio of all the lower gears with new final drive sprockets.

not possible without taking the transmission apart, which is about the biggest job you can do on a bike. and that's only if alternative gears even exist which would give you the ratios you want. i'm betting the short answer is no.

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester fucked around with this message at 12:14 on Jun 1, 2009

# ¿ Jun 1, 2009 12:10

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

all bikes with carbs (not fuel injection) have chokes. however, depending on the design or settings of the carbs, they're not 100% necessary. my 1955 bmw has a choke that i never use, because it has a springless throttle and it has "ticklers" on the carbs which are like a momentary choke. and my 84 guzzi refuses to run right unless the idle mixture is set really rich, so rich that it doesn't really need a choke when it's cold. it does have a choke on it though, so the carbs may just be misbehaving.

the vast majority of engines that have chokes do need them to start up cold properly.

# ¿ Jun 1, 2009 17:43

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

BronYrAur posted:

I seem to be getting worse than expected fuel mileage, ~30MPG. I was wondering what I could do to improve this with my limited tools and limited knowledge?

I already ran some cheap fuel additive carb cleaner stuff through and it doesn't seem to have done much.

For reference it's a Suzuki Katana 600F

my first thoughts are, how old are your spark plugs, when was the last time the carbs were cleaned out, and how much like a grandma do you ride? i'm not well familiar with that bike but i assume from the name that it's an i4 crotch rocket. they aren't known for their good mileage, despite the lies you see on craigslist.

# ¿ Jun 2, 2009 11:38

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

BlueBayou posted:

Yeah i think I'll drain the float bowls first, see if that does the trick. My oil level doesn't seem to be lower than before, so i am reluctant to think that my airbox is chock full of oil. Plus if the filter were soaked, why would it have made it the 15 or so miles back to my place before having issues?

I keep my bike covered, so no rain, but I did ride it through the fog. I guess I'll have a look at the fuses too.

Thanks for all the continued advice. Its kinda fun to sort this out on my own.

your symptoms sounded similar to tek's, a fuel flow constriction between the tank and the carbs. hard to imagine how a tip over would cause that though.

# ¿ Jun 4, 2009 19:31

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

wouldn't think a coolant leak would be related to idle issues unless the idle only caused problems after it overheated. could be the idle set screw is just too low, did you mess with that? i dunno how easy it is to get to on an ex250...

# ¿ Jun 14, 2009 02:58

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

Sunny Sixkiller posted:

Sorry if this is too non-technical for the thread (I definitely didn't think it'd merit it's own post): I'm a filmmaker in Los Angeles looking to put together a trailer for a movie set in the 1950's. The movie has a ton of motorcycles involved. I want to make sure everything looks authentic/accurate in the trailer, but I'm having a tough time tracking down places that rent classic bikes for non-exorbitant prices.

I read recently that the motorcycle in the new Indiana Jones movie was actually a modern bike (gussied up a bit to look more 50's I guess- I think the hero bike was a 2007 Harley Softail Springer Classic).

Modern bikes are way easier and cheaper to rent, so I guess my question is: does anyone have any recommendations for modern bikes that could "pass" for vintage? It's for a trailer, so we're never going to be seeing the bikes super close or for an extended period of time-- I just need something with a convincingly old school "look" about it. Am I poo poo out of luck?

how good you want them to look? there are a bunch of retroish bikes (half the bikes harley makes, in fact) but virtually none that could actually pass for originals to a discerning eye. everywhere you go, however, there are vintage owners, and maybe you could bribe one of them to load their 49 indian on a truck for a day. there are probably vintage bike shops in the phone book you could call up and ask about that. otherwise, i always thought honda shadow aeros looked very nice and vintageish.

# ¿ Jun 21, 2009 02:03

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

losing power on my crotch rocket. (85 zx-900) pulls nice and strong until 6000rpm, then loses a lot of power. on the test ride before last, it did it for the first 10 minutes and then ran normally for the last 10. abruptly came and went. i'd just fixed a few carb problems, stuck float valve, misadjusted float height, etc.

i'm thinking a coil is cutting out... could this be?

or maybe this bike doesn't run right if you wear full gear.

# ¿ Jun 26, 2009 01:41

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

Chairon posted:

This might be a bit subjective, but where would a good place to be to practice my Panic stops? Is it illegal to just find some lonely road and do it there? I've worked hard to not have gotten a ticket since i've been driving, I don't wanna start now.

my MSF instructor said whenever he entered a spacious parking lot he'd practice a panic swerve. it may look stupid but it's probably a good idea. swerving is less intuitive than just grabbing the brakes and deserves some practice too.

# ¿ Jul 24, 2009 08:00

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

blugu64 posted:

What do you think guys?

i'd consider doing that on my antique bmw. go for it.

# ¿ Aug 3, 2009 06:10

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

Nerobro posted:

Should you do anything about it? no.

well you should resync the carbs and check the timing if you're able.

# ¿ Aug 10, 2009 12:29

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

sklnd posted:

This is kind of a longshot, but has anybody here used in-helmet mic systems for radio communication while riding? What has your experience been?

I'm going on a decently long ride next month with a buddy who (like myself) is a licensed ham. Using our radios for communication would be fantastic, but I don't want to give up my earbud headphones and music to do it. So far I've managed to get an order going for a multi-input amp so I should have no problem with getting both the radio and music into my headphones. What I'm having trouble with is finding a boom mic with PTT that doesn't have speakers attached.

There are a bunch of mic-speaker combinations out there, and some hook directly up to my radio (top mount connector with a 3.5mm TRS mic input and 1/8" TRS stereo output). I suppose I can modify something like that to work, but finding a helmet-mountable boom mic with a 3.5mm connector is really ideal (though I'm thinking unlikely). Anybody know of such a product?

missed this until now.

i made my own bike radios which used regular old GMRS walkie talkies. it worked pretty well as long as you were riding below 50mph. wind noise got too loud above it. for the headset/mics i decided the best option was to use a pre-made set, so i just bought 2 pairs of chatterbox accessory helmet sets. they are like $25 each and include mic and speakers. they make ones with boom mics for 3/4 helmets i think. you can buy these at most online bike shops like newenough, and probably most local dealers. they use a ps/2 connector.

# ¿ Aug 12, 2009 06:03

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

Nerobro posted:

also a low battery can cause funny idling. wait till it's charged before you declare the carbs screwed.

can it? weak spark does that?

# ¿ Aug 21, 2009 18:13

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

tron- posted:

What do you guys think about this bike?

i don't like a lot of his modifications aesthetically but i see no reason not to buy it. i think the price might be a bit high but not too sure. i hear good things about /6es. i got a basket case i'm working on myself right now. as with all euro brands, parts and service will be pricier than jap brands. less abundant used parts. but if it wasn't abused it'll last a long time.

# ¿ Aug 22, 2009 06:19

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

i'm told boiling carb parts in lemon juice for 20-30 minutes works wonders. i got some juice to try next time i have to clean some carbs.

# ¿ Aug 22, 2009 14:11

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

i've worked on a bunch of bikes now and the only one i've seen that really required a mega cleaning (ultrasonic cleaner) to fix its issues was an 81 virago. but there was a telltale sign that suggested the problem. the bike had sat in a garage a long time, and one of the carbs had so much varnish in it that the slide needle was glued to the main jet. when i pulled the slide out, the needle stayed in the jet. that's a lot of varnish.

# ¿ Aug 22, 2009 19:22

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

surging with choke on, slow throttle response, slow to return to idle after rev up...bad diaphragm(s)?

electronic ignition and no vacuum leaks that i could detect...

# ¿ Aug 23, 2009 17:40

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

side stand is more stable unless it's bent! i'm sure you could find a used one on ebay for nice and cheap. don't get an $89 new one. ought to be easy to install if you have a couple wrenches.

# ¿ Aug 29, 2009 19:32

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

Blaster of Justice posted:

You must be joking.

width from side stand tip to wheels is wider than width of center stand, so more stable. unless it's an inch long side stand like on my ninja.

# ¿ Aug 29, 2009 21:46

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

membranoid posted:

Ok here's a question, I recently came into possession of an 05 Honda 750 Shadow Spirit, it has some type of Cobra aftermarket exhaust, and it backfires really bad at decel. Would changing my gas octane have even the slightest effect on this? Or am I doomed to learn the mystic voodoo of dual carbs and/or spends lots of bucks at the bike shop?

Note: I do not have tiny amounts of bucks, much less lots of them.

What can I possibly do besides hold/wedge the choke open slightly? It runs great pushing the throttle, but horrible at (even throttle low rpm), and it bothers me at idle, but hasn't actually stalled yet once it gets warm.

pretty sure that's a fuel mixture problem which means the carbs have to be fiddled with. aftermarket exhaust might be part of the problem i think?

# ¿ Sep 1, 2009 11:24

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

just fyi, boiling carbs in lemon juice works great. 20 mins on medium high heat. solved several problems on my guzzi and kz440. only thing is you have to clean them twice. once in the juice and then you need to promptly rinse and dry with compressed air and carb cleaner to get all the juice out. had some trouble with a sticky slide once.

# ¿ Sep 1, 2009 20:00

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

Chairon posted:

Well I hope you guys are wearing your comfy pants, i've got a laundry list of questions.

My bike(Suzuki, GS500, 1991) is vibey as gently caress. On the ride back from the mechanics, I just had to pull over and beat my hands a bit, I couldn't feel them at all. After lunch i'm running over to the bike shop and see if they have any good grips that would help, these ones are really hard. It also likes to drop from second into neutral, or it likes to stop providing power. I'll be riding along in second and BAM, revs shoot up to the moon and I start slowing down. A quick upshift fixes this.

It still likes to be a bitch about going back down to idle, it likes to stay about 4k until it's good and ready to drop to a more comfortable level. The front suspension is just about non-existent. The forks love bottoming out(With me on it, theres only about an inch of travel on there) My guy says it's not just the oil but the springs as well and that someone cut them down, trying to cafe it. The chain is pretty loose and on it's last legs. Also needs new tires!

The things i'm most worried about are the dropping from second issue and the forks. I'm pretty sure I would need new springs and oil for the forks, but what about the gears? What could be wrong with that?

you may not need NEW springs etc for the forks, if you can find a used pair that hasn't been destroyed, the springs might be fine. your bike has a lot of issues there. the slipping out of gear is the biggest one. far as i know it means your transmission is dying. only a major rebuild would fix it. probably more parts and labor than that bike is worth. everything else sounds like carb problems.

# ¿ Sep 8, 2009 01:33

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

Agrajag posted:

How complicated is it to work on the tranny for a newbie wrencher? Do you think it would be doable if I was able to get my hands on a manual of some sort?

having taken apart a couple old (less complicated) transmissions now, i can tell you: don't. unless you really want to become a more advancved wrencher and are going to do this as a cold turkey learning experience. it's the biggest job you can do on a bike, basically, and in my experience you often need special tools in addition to a complete set of standard shop tools.

# ¿ Sep 10, 2009 12:19

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

anyone think its plausible that a damaged head gasket would cause power loss above ~60% rpm? i swear i've eliminated just about everything else.

# ¿ Sep 16, 2009 01:34

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

the walkin dude posted:

Are there supposed to be wings? And was it supposed to "snap" off like that?

a rocker should never come out of the head while you're just fiddling with the adjusting screw. yours has to be broken. but i can't tell from looking at it exactly what is broken. i'm not familiar with those rockers. i'm amazed you were able to just snap it off with sheer force of will, though. rockers are usually pretty tough.

BlueBayou posted:

Im more than likely about to lose my health insurance. I have decent bike coverage, should I up it? get uninsured drive coverage? Or does bike insurance only cover my bike?

just watch out you don't get euthanized by obama's death panel after a lowside!

# ¿ Oct 5, 2009 22:56

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

the walkin dude posted:

Here's two better pictures.

In this picture, it was the bottom of the screw assembly that popped out from my perception. Smooth ball bottom. Like in that bike bandit diagram, but instead of looking like it has a boxy bottom, the "92009" has a rounded ball-shaped bottom. I tried to pop it back into its spot, but I couldn't do it.

In this picture, it's supposed to be symmetrical - both sides having protruding notches on the bottom. The right one broke off.

Where is the rocker assembly supposed to attach itself to the valve/springs, etc? Through the "ball"-shaped part, or through the part that broke off in the above image?

looking at your pics and the diagram the other guy found, i cannot make sense of your rockers. all rockers i've seen attach to and pivot around a shaft of some kind. yours appears to have no shaft.

# ¿ Oct 6, 2009 03:47

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

sectoidman posted:

Does CA have an IRC channel? If so, what is it?

irc.synirc.net i think
#bieks

Corrupt Cypher posted:

Well I adjusted the valves, one of the nuts turned out to have its threading hosed so that made one of them a lovely process (that is still incomplete until home hardware is open), but I was able to get the one cylinder completely finished and run a compression test. 45-60psi, gently caress! I take it my next step is to pull the cylinder head off and start taking pictures for you guys to have a look at?

Aaaand this is about where I'm in over my head, blind ambition and confidence!

you sure you adjusted them at tdc on the correct cylinder? otherwise it could be valves, head gasket or piston/rings. all of those are fairly big jobs.

# ¿ Oct 6, 2009 04:29

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

should i spent money to turn my this:

into this:

?

for awesome vintage enduro riding.

i dunno why i ask. i know you'll all say yes.

it would take 2 new fenders, custom skid plate, custom headers and muffler. and some kinda headlight guard for the full shebang. just saw a rear fender on ebay that might work, and will be cheap because it was already dicked with.

# ¿ Oct 6, 2009 13:13

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

areyoucontagious posted:

I recently got a busted up 1982 CB 750 in a deal on Craigslist, and while it's a wonderful project bike it is also my first undertaking of a project this size. It needs a new gas tank, probably a new seat pan, the brakes redone, etc.

The first place I wanted to start was getting the engine running again. This involves getting a new gas tank, and when I call up places to look for one the first thing they ask me is the size. Is there a standard measurement I should give them? I know that I need to make sure that the tank will fit appropriately on my bike, but what can I slap a tape measure to in order to figure that out?

there's only gonna be one tank for that kinda bike, as far as i know. i may be out of the loop on honda factory options, though. so i dunno what they're asking you. either it's an 82 cb750 tank or it isn't. if it's anything else you're probably going to have to weld something on or off to make it work. ebay is always good for poo poo like this, although shipping will be more pricey for a part that size.

# ¿ Oct 9, 2009 04:09

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

sirbeefalot posted:

So some dude saw me eating my after work fast food snack with my helmet and jacket sitting next to me, and started talking to me about my Ninja. Great bike, this and that, etc. Then he got into how I should really use only the molybdenum based Kawasaki oil, and the bike will last forever. I told him I've been using Shell Rotella T, after reading about it on ninja250.org, and he went into this thing about synthetics only being for "tight tolerance engines" and the EX250 has a "loose tolerance engine" and how I'm going to burn mad oil if I run anything but the stuff he mentioned before (even though it hasn't burned a drop in almost 2k miles on the Rotella T).

He mentioned something about working in "the industry" and how he's owned lots of bikes, is any of this worth considering? I'm pretty confident that the forum dedicated entirely to this bike is making a decent suggestion in the Rotella T, and the way he mentioned the Kawi oil just made it sound like a sales pitch. I also don't really understand how that engine can be considered significantly "loose tolerance," considering it spins up to 13k as part of regular operation. If the tolerances were that bad it would just grenade itself anyway regardless of what oil you put in it.

i know nothing about ninja 250s, but rotella T is the recommended oil for old BMWs and v-twins like guzzis. the explanation given is that it has an additive containing some form of zinc which prevents the cam lobes from eating the lifters. i find it hard to believe a 30 year old BMW could be categorized as a "tight tolerance" engine.

# ¿ Oct 9, 2009 04:12

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

Tipped posted:

BMWMOA feels that this is proper weight, and they scare me.

my bmw takes straight sae30 :smug:

# ¿ Oct 9, 2009 21:42

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

yeah mine uses 30 in the crankcase :smug:

and it has devices which have the effect of centrifugal filters, but they're not really designed for filtering per se. and you have to do a total engine teardown to clean them.

# ¿ Oct 14, 2009 05:34

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

r!de the short bus posted:

and how do i check if my brake fluid is savvy? do i just top it off or do i need a bleed kit?

if you open up the reservoir to top it off, and the fluid looks cloudy or colored (it should be mostly clear), or if the brakes feel squishy and soft, it could use a bleed. if it's squishy and soft, it could be other problems too, but bleeding is step 1.

oneoldman posted:

I'm restoring an old bike now too (she's finally road worthy, yay) and a great piece of advice that my mechanic friend gave me was to install a fuel filter (if you haven't already). They cost like $3 are inline so they're easy as hell to install and will help a lot especially if you have a rusty tank. If your tank is in really bad shape though, you might need to clean and re-liner it. The kit is ~$50 and is very easy to deal with. Takes like 2 days though.

yeah i have 2 lawnmower fuel filters on my /2 BMW.

# ¿ Oct 27, 2009 13:21

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

ari.gato posted:

Not sure if to ask this in the tire thread or here, but I need to buy a new set of Pirelli Sport Demons for my bike. Any recommendations on sites to purchase from?

i bought from here a few times:
http://www.tiresunlimited.com/motorcycle_tires.htm

and so can you! if you can ignore how ugly the site is.

# ¿ Nov 7, 2009 03:59

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

anyone know the names of some bikes that use 30mm cv carbs? thinking some day i might try swapping out these piece of poo poo dellortos on my guzzi.

# ¿ Nov 11, 2009 05:51

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

Bugdrvr posted:

You won't get shocked anywhere on a motorcycle by electricity unless you are messing around with the spark plug leads while it's running. Even then you almost have to be trying.

and i've done this and while it's not any fun, it's not inordinately painful.

problem with wiring if you're not familiar with it is bayou's symptoms could mean a bad connection in a lot of different places. it's just a lot of things to check. wire connectors between the blinkers and the bike would be the first.

# ¿ Dec 1, 2009 08:21

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 03:16

Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester: Oct 3, 2000

yeah i dunno. the cam on my 50+ year old ~100k mile bmw looked cleaner than that.

# ¿ Dec 28, 2009 13:28

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Cycle Asylum > Question Thread: Apply throttle directly to forehead

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